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Thread: Breastaurants

  1. #46
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    Five more

    Beyond Hooters, Twin Peaks, Bone Daddy's & Tilted Kilt.

    Bazookas

    Hawaiian Tropic Zone

    Show Me's

    Wing House

    And when in Poland, there's Roosters
    Gene Ching
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  2. #47
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    Hooters for sale?

    Hooters chain seeks buyer; could fetch $250M
    By JAMES COVERT
    Last Updated: 3:41 AM, February 11, 2010
    Posted: 12:45 AM, February 10, 2010

    Hooters is rattling its cans on Wall Street.

    The Atlanta-based "breast-aurant" chain -- famous for the scantily clad waitresses who serve up its burgers and spicy wings -- is beckoning prospective buyers, sources told The Post.

    Hooters has recently shopped itself to a number of private-equity firms as sales have sagged with the recession, sources said. The closely held company, meanwhile, is in advanced talks with a Connecticut-based investor that has been granted certain rights of refusal on any potential transaction, according to one source.

    An asking price couldn't be learned, and North Point Advisors, a San Francisco-based investment bank that Hooters has hired, didn't respond to requests for comment. A Hooters spokeswoman couldn't be reached yesterday.

    Some analysts estimate the chain might fetch more than $250 million despite the bumpy business climate. Hooters' 450 owned and franchised restaurants, which are as far-flung as Australia and China, racked up more than $1 billion in sales in 2008, according to Technomic, a food-industry research firm.

    Nevertheless, insiders said Hooters appears to be strapped financially. The chain's comparable sales lately have suffered steep declines, according to one source, as the hobbled economy has deflated appetites for Hooters' burgers-and-babes fare.

    If an upcoming episode of the CBS reality show "Undercover Boss" is any indication, there may be management issues, too. In an episode slated to run Sunday, CEO Coby Brooks discovers a restaurant supervisor staging an eating contest for female employees, forcing them to bury their faces in platefuls of food without using their hands.

    "Ladies, if you want to leave early today, you're going to play my reindeer game," the manager says, howling "Hoooo, doggie!" as the women eat.

    To make matters worse, Brooks has had to repair damage from ill-advised side ventures initiated by his controversial father Robert Brooks, who died in 2006 after being part of a group that co-founded the firm in 1983.

    Not least among them was Hooters Air, a passenger airline that was grounded in 2006 after a three-year effort to elevate the chain's "hotties-in-tight-T-shirts" concept to the skies.

    Insiders speculated that the bad fortunes of the Hooters Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas likewise might be a factor. The resort's operations aren't connected with Hooters, to which it pays a royalty fee for the use of its name. But the Las Vegas development was recently in default on $144.5 million in long-term debt as its losses widened and revenue plunged amid dwindling occupancy. Key creditors include investment vehicles owned by Hooters' founders.

    On the bright side, Hooters' choice to seek a buyer now could signal that the restaurant industry has found a bottom, said Brad Ludington, an analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets.
    The real reason they failed is that they don't serve nachos.
    Gene Ching
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  3. #48
    I haven't been in a while but I do enjoy Hooter's wings.

    The women.....my experience is that they are fairly average looking. Of course that now, since the economy has gone south, I'm assuming Hooter's management has a wider labor pool.

  4. #49
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    Quote Originally Posted by TenTigers View Post
    tilted kilt? Does Dale hang out there?

    "I used to chase alot of skirts, till I went to Scotland"
    I was afraid to look at the tilted kilt link . . . . lol
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  5. #50
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lucas View Post
    My Norton said "site unsafe"
    Sifu Phillip Redmond
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  6. #51
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    The latest on Grab-n-Go

    Remember Grab-n-Go? That's why you came up $80 short this month...
    Published: Friday, March 5, 2010
    Former Everett bikini barista on path to avoid criminal charges
    Prosecutors dropped two prostitution charges, and if she stays out of trouble, other charges will be dismissed.
    By Diana Hefley
    Herald Writer

    EVERETT — A former Everett bikini barista accused of selling sex at a Grab-n-Go espresso stand vowed Thursday morning to stay out of trouble so she can avoid spending time behind bars.

    City prosecutors agreed to stay action in the woman's case for two years. In return, the Kirkland woman, 21, must not commit any new crimes or violate the city's adult entertainment ordinance.

    If she complies with those terms, the city will dismiss two misdemeanor charges against the woman, including operating without an adult entertainment license and violating the standards of conduct of the ordinance.

    As part of the agreement, city prosecutors on Thursday dropped two prostitution charges against the woman.

    Everett Municipal Court Judge Timothy O'Dell warned the woman to toe the line or she'd be brought back into court and likely found guilty of the adult-entertainment violations.

    “I will impose jail time if you don't follow through,” O'Dell said.

    The woman also agreed that she would testify against four other baristas also charged with prostitution and violating city ordinances. So far, only one barista has indicated that she plans to take her case to trial.

    The others are expected to accept deals similar to the one offered the Kirkland woman. All of them are due back in court later this month.

    City deputy prosecutor Leslie Tidball said it isn't uncommon to offer such agreements to people who don't have any previous criminal history.

    “We like to give folks an opportunity to be successful and maintain a clean record — at the same time, we want to put a stop to the conduct affecting the public,” she said.

    The woman's attorney Brian Ashbach of Marysville said he was confident that his client would have been acquitted of the prostitution charges. The other charges would have been more difficult to defend, he said.

    The five baristas were charged after an investigation into complaints of lewd behavior at the stand. Everett detectives reported that the women were exposing their genitals and charging customers up to $80 to touch the baristas' exposed breasts and buttocks.

    News of the investigation and criminal charges against the baristas made national headlines. Pictures of the women, including explicit photographs taken during the police investigation, hit cyberspace.

    O'Dell on Thursday told the Kirkland woman he didn't need to lecture her. All the attention the case has drawn was enough, he said.

    “Hopefully, I won't see you again,” O'Dell said
    Gene Ching
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  7. #52
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    Bikini Baristas in my town!

    And I thought Fremont reached the height of culture when we opened a Hooters.

    [IMG]http://media.nbcbayarea.com/images/410*307/bikinibaristashop2.jpg[/IMG]

    Would You Like Some Coffee With Your Eye Candy?
    By JESSICA GREENE
    Updated 8:45 AM PDT, Mon, Aug 30, 2010

    Something is brewing in Fremont's Warm Springs district -- and it's more than just a hot cup of coffee.

    A new drive-up coffee shop recently opened in the parking lot of a neighborhood shopping center. The new place is called Your Coffee Cups and features bikini-clad baristas serving coffee.

    The menu features "B-, C-, or D-Cup" sizes.

    Some neighbors say the idea is inappropriate and degrades women. But, the owner, Robert Martinez, says, it's a creative way to put his sons through college. He's a general contractor who had been out of work for a year before the idea hit him.

    So far, business is booming. By the second week they were open, they had already pulled in twice the revenue as the previous coffee shop that was there -- Island Java. The baristas make an average of $50 in tips per four-hour shift on top of their $9 an hour salary, our friends at the Mercury News tell us.

    The Pacific-Northwest has become a model of sorts for the scantily clad barista business. Martinez got the idea for his coffee shop from a friend who opened up a similar shop in Oregon. He spent some time in Seattle observing another shop and returned to the Bay Area to open Your Coffee Cups.

    Martinez is aiming to open three more shops over the next two years

    This is not the first time a coffee shop with this kind of theme has percolated in the Bay Area. Several years ago, an East San Jose coffee shop featuring bikini-clad baristas also raised a few eyebrows.
    There's a flash photo gallery on the link below.
    Baristas in bikinis perk up Fremont coffee business
    By Matthew Artz
    Oakland Tribune
    Posted: 08/29/2010 08:11:19 AM PDT

    FREMONT -- There are plenty of coffee shops in Fremont, but those with pretty young women working in bikinis are hard to find.

    That combination is "a gold mine," said Robert Martinez, a formerly out-of-work general contractor who, desperate to help pay his sons' college bills, has opened Your Coffee Cups -- the Bay Area's first bikini barista drive-though coffee business.

    The establishment, in a Warm Springs district strip mall, serves Mr. Espresso coffee in a 16-ounce "C-Cup" for $1.85.

    But the real draw may be the "eye candy" that comes with each purchase, evidenced by the fact that all 22 drive-through customers during a one-hour stretch Thursday morning were men.

    "I'm spoiled," said Ken Lockett, a burly Fremont machinist, just before a barista wearing little more than a bikini top and short shorts asked him, "Is your coffee good?"

    "It's always good," Lockett replied smiling, before leaving a tip.

    Business has been pretty good since Martinez opened the climate-controlled coffee hut last month at 46685 Mission Blvd.

    By the second week, Your Coffee Cups had doubled the revenue of its predecessor, Island Java, said Martinez, who knows the owner of that shop.

    And say what you will about the customers, they are good tippers. The baristas say they make an average of $50 in tips during a four-hour shift -- on top of their $9-per-hour salary.

    "I have more time for myself," said Samantha Dela Cruz, a 21-year-old
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    San Jose State student, who takes home more in four hours at the coffee shop than she did working eight hours a day at a Lowe's home-improvement store.

    Drive-through coffee shops with bikini-clad servers have become popular in the Pacific Northwest, the land that gave the world Starbucks.

    Martinez, whose friend had opened a shop in Oregon, decided to travel to Seattle earlier this year with his fiancee, Irene Mann, to get a firsthand look at the growing fad.

    "They were doing good business," he said. "I thought, why not do it here? I hadn't worked in more than a year. I needed to reinvent myself."

    Martinez drives to the shop from his Castro Valley home every weekday before 5:30 a.m. to brew the first cup of coffee before retreating to his nearby truck where he spends most of the day with an eye on the shop.

    He's hoping to open three more bikini barista establishments in the next two years and, although his first shop is just breaking even, he thinks each of them can eventually net $10,000 to $15,000 a month.

    "It's going to literally go through the roof," he said.

    The shops have encountered some issues in the Northwest. There have been news reports of baristas flashing customers for bigger tips and customers exposing themselves to baristas.

    Martinez and the baristas said none of that has happened at the Fremont shop, which has cameras on the baristas and the drivers.

    "They say 'Hi,' they get their coffee, and they're gone," barista Rosanna Ortiz said. "They don't make you feel like a stripper."

    "It's just like going to the beach," Dela Cruz said. "It's no big deal. We're not putting ourselves out there."

    A few unwitting female customers have voiced their displeasure with the bikini gimmick, a couple of whom decided to take their business elsewhere, said barista Natasha Berg, who studies English at San Francisco State.

    But there is a way to offset the opposition being voiced by some of the women, she said.

    "You have to talk to (them) a little more so they see you're not an idiot in a bikini."
    Gene Ching
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  8. #53
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    Devoted Dads

    When my daughter was 3, my hubby, his buddy, and his buddy's 3 yr.old daughter went on a train trip from Grand Rapids to Chicago for a weekend. They went to the aquarium, museums, and had lunch at...HOOTERS! My 3 year old said daddy, why is the name hooters? Daddy says, because owls say "hoot". Of course both three year olds reported back to the mommies how much fun they had, including lunch...the hubbies reported the lines at all the other close restaurants were too long. I just lmao...the other mommy, didn't.
    "The true meaning of a given movement in a form is not its application, but rather the unlimited potential of the mind to provide muscular and skeletal support for that movement." Gregory Fong

  9. #54
    Quote Originally Posted by TaichiMantis View Post
    When my daughter was 3, my hubby, his buddy, and his buddy's 3 yr.old daughter went on a train trip from Grand Rapids to Chicago for a weekend. They went to the aquarium, museums, and had lunch at...HOOTERS! My 3 year old said daddy, why is the name hooters? Daddy says, because owls say "hoot". Of course both three year olds reported back to the mommies how much fun they had, including lunch...the hubbies reported the lines at all the other close restaurants were too long. I just lmao...the other mommy, didn't.
    really??? she was mad coz the kids went or coz the boys went??? the former i kind of understand, the latter just seems a bit controlling and jealous, no???

  10. #55
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    Quote Originally Posted by Syn7 View Post
    really??? she was mad coz the kids went or coz the boys went??? the former i kind of understand, the latter just seems a bit controlling and jealous, no???
    probably both...and yeah, she's a little nutz like that
    "The true meaning of a given movement in a form is not its application, but rather the unlimited potential of the mind to provide muscular and skeletal support for that movement." Gregory Fong

  11. #56
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    Cafe Miss Cutie

    Orange County authorities cracking down on Vietnamese cafes

    In Garden Grove, Westminster and other cities, some of the coffeehouses include not only loud music and strong java, but nudity, gambling and prostitution. Many in Little Saigon are hesitant to speak out against the establishments.

    By Nicole Santa Cruz, Los Angeles Times
    May 24, 2011

    The tinted windows at Cafe Miss Cutie in Garden Grove are a giveaway that this isn't your ordinary coffeehouse.

    At about 20 tables, men play cards and smoke, tossing cigarette butts onto the wood floor seconds before lighting up again. High-pitched pop music pulsates as waitresses dressed in sexy lingerie — and sometimes less — deliver the brew the customers crave: Vietnamese coffee, strong and sweet, in a small glass topped with whipped cream.

    The cafe is one of about 20 in this Orange County city, which includes part of Little Saigon, one of the largest Vietnamese American enclaves in the U.S. It also is among those raided in March by more than 150 federal and local law enforcement officials, exposing an underbelly of what police say includes nudity, gambling and prostitution.

    Even the Garden Grove police weren't prepared for what they found.

    "We were shocked," Sgt. Tom Dare, with the department's special investigations unit, said of the proliferation of arcade-like gambling machines. "A lot of these places want to be legit, but how do they compete with these other businesses? It's almost a chain reaction, where one business tries to one-up another."

    In the raid, police seized 186 arcade machines that they say can be turned into a keno or blackjack machine with the push of a button. Also confiscated was more than $145,000 in suspected gambling profits, including $35,000 from one cafe alone. The investigation is ongoing.

    "These guys are very organized, they are very intelligent," Dare said, pointing out that profits from a single machine can exceed $3,000 per day. "The reward outweighs the risk."

    In response, the Garden Grove City Council recently approved new restrictions, targeting even the tinted windows, that go into effect next month.

    Nhut Luong, who coordinates immigration services next door to Cafe Di Vang, one of the older businesses in the area, said he's gotten used to the loud music and is otherwise unbothered.

    "We don't care," he said, stressing that local businesses need to support one another.

    Nguyen Uong, who lives in Fountain Valley not far from several of the coffeehouses, said the problem isn't the loud music but the nudity and gambling.

    "Things like that have been going on for a long time and nobody has spoken up," he said. "It makes me feel like we live in a Third World country"

    Many in Little Saigon, which includes neighboring Westminster, are hesitant to speak out against the cafes. None of the waitresses would agree to be interviewed.

    There are signatures that many of the cafes share: No alcohol is served, big-screen televisions line the walls, California lottery tickets are for sale, and the coffee is served by Asian women often wearing high heels and nothing more than string bikinis or see-through lingerie. In some cafes, that uniform has dwindled to pasties and a thong.

    Lan Duong, an assistant professor of culture and media studies at UC Riverside, has studied the tradition behind the cafes.

    "It's not about ogling women per se," she said. "It's about the camaraderie."

    Chanh Do, a 57-year-old engineer from Orange, agrees. The subdued Mai Tay Hien off Bolsa Avenue is where he spends his happy hour. Almost each day for more than two decades, he has taken a seat at the far end of the counter to read the newspaper, drink coffee (black, with sugar) and smoke Marlboro Lights.

    "Here, it's time to relax," Do said. Everyone there knows his name and knows not to sit in his seat. Waitresses — in sweaters and jeans — know his order.

    Phu Vu owns Mai Tay Hien — Vietnamese for "Westside Terrace" — and remembers watching his father build another cafe from studs and nails to its opening in 1986.

    "Everybody you see here, it's like a religion to them," he said. "You take away one of those things and they can't live."

    But this contrasts sharply with some of the other cafes. On a recent evening, two Garden Grove police officers parked behind a strip mall and walked behind a restaurant and a karate school, hoping to enter California Cafe through the back door. It was locked, forcing them to go in through the front — where tinted windows allow patrons and managers to see them coming.

    The officers say they are used to hearing someone shout "canh sat!" — "police" in Vietnamese. In some cafes, police said, women rush to the front desk to tie bikini tops around exposed breasts.

    On this night, fresh smoke lingers above stubbed-out cigarettes as the waitresses stare at the officers. Several female employees are wearing thongs, and one is clad in a transparent lacy green bra.

    The manager signals that she does not understand English.

    "Tell her it's her job to make sure the girls cover up," Officer Jeff Brown tells a third party, a man who claims to be a friend of the owner.

    It is not the first brush with the law for Vietnamese coffeehouses. In the 1990s, they became a home base for gangs. Shootings, homicides and fights were common. Extortion was prevalent, leading to ordinances in both Garden Grove and Westminster to restrict cafe hours. Westminster enacted an ordinance requiring a conditional-use permit for the cafes. In order to be approved, the permits require a public hearing.

    But with the decrease in violence came an increase in illegal gambling and prostitution as gang members aged and became more sophisticated, according to Dare.

    "It's all about money now," he said.

    The majority of cafe owners and managers declined to be interviewed.

    "We love sexy but not nasty," said one manager, who requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation within the Vietnamese community. "I love green, but I don't want to do it the dirty way."

    Vu, the owner of Mai Tay Hien, said his cafe survives because of California lottery sales and, of course, the quality of the coffee, which he says is a blend passed down by his father.

    The new restrictions are long overdue, he said. "We don't need those other coffee shops to stereotype us.

    "Not everybody wants to buy coffee from a naked girl."[/QUOTE]
    "It's not about ogling women per se," she said. "It's about the camaraderie." - If anyone asks, that will be my defense statement for the forum here.

    Meet us at Twin Peaks next month!
    Gene Ching
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  12. #57
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    Breastaurant Growth

    I was ruminating over our upcoming annual TX forum meeting (see Who is going to Legend of Kung Fu Tourney in Dallas this yr.?) and stumbled on some recent news.

    Firstly, check this out: Breastaurant Uniforms
    Gene Ching
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  13. #58
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    Biz is good

    'Breastaurants' Ring Up Big Profits
    Restaurants that woo men with attractive waitresses, big beer selections & giant TVs are winning loyal customers--and raking in revenues.
    By Jason Daley | Entrepreneur Magazine - June 2011


    Guest Connection: A Tilted Kilt pub in Tempe, Ariz.

    Franchises inspired by the Hooters model--such as Celtic-themed sports bar chain Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery and faux mountain sports lodge chain Twin Peaks--have expanded rapidly over the last half decade, while corporate-owned chains like Brick House Tavern + Tap and Bone Daddy's House of Smoke are picking up steam regionally. In fact, for the next couple of years, this segment (often referred to as "breastaurants") is poised to be one of the fastest-growing restaurant categories.

    Sales figures for this specific niche aren't available, because they are lumped in with the broader casual dining segment--and numbers for the privately held companies aren't publicly reported--but sales at Hooters alone have increased in the last couple of years and average $1 billion annually.

    The concept has grown in spite of the recession by focusing equally on upscale comfort food, full bars with extended beer choices, a full menu of sports on TV, and waitresses in tight shirts and short shorts. But the most important aspect of these restaurants is the same element that powers most successful eateries: customer service.

    Why is this segment so popular? "It starts with comfort," says Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Technomic, a food-industry consulting firm in Chicago. "These concepts are growing by offering a different level of service and attentiveness.

    They provide a service to men who may not have a person at home to take care of them in the same way. That's important to a number of people, and it drives them back."

    It's hard to say exactly why these public man caves took hold in the last few years. Some think a shift away from political correctness or toward a more sexualized culture made the concepts more acceptable. Others believe that as Hooters sales flattened and expansion stalled, like-minded entrepreneurs saw a niche that wasn't being filled.

    Ron Lynch, CEO of Tempe, Ariz.-based Tilted Kilt, thinks his concept has been well-received because customers were ready for something new.

    "Friday's, Chili's--those kinds of concepts came to be very similar in menu and look because they were chasing the same dollars," Lynch says. "When we sprang up, people were looking for something different."

    That's what attracted Lynch to Tilted Kilt in the first place. In 2003, Harrah's in Las Vegas asked restaurateur Mark DiMartino if he had a concept for a space in the Rio Casino. He came up with the Hooters-goes-to-Scotland concept that is still the restaurant's theme. When Lynch--an area developer for Schlotsky's Deli--saw the place in 2005, he was hooked, and approached DiMartino about buying the franchise rights. By 2006, there were three Tilted Kilt franchises in the system. The concept has doubled each year. Lynch estimates Tilted Kilt will have 80 units open by the end of 2011, with another 70 deals for new spots in the pipeline.

    There's a lot more going on at the Kilt than just men watching women, Lynch says, pointing out that one of the company's key offerings is "sports-viewing excellence," which translates to 50-inch plasma TVs throughout the restaurant, a full bar with a minimum of 24 beers on tap and a menu that ranges from inexpensive snacks to $19 steaks.

    But he acknowledges that the cornerstone of the restaurant is the Tilted Kilt waitress. "We make no bones about it--that's what brings people in," he says. "We sell on sex appeal, but we are sexy classy, sexy smart or sexy cute. Not sexy stupid or sexy trashy."

    Randy DeWitt had the same idea back in 2004. After growing his Rockfish Seafood Grill franchise too quickly in the Dallas area, he was faced with having to shut down stores. But instead of writing the locations off, he drilled down into the data and realized that while casual dining was tapering off, Hooters and similar concepts were doing well.

    That's when he came up with Twin Peaks, a franchise based on a mountain lodge theme, where the girls wear plaid tops, suspenders and hiking boots.

    "I knew guys like me would like a man cave where the waitresses are pretty and friendly, and we thought we could create a concept sufficiently differentiated from Hooters," DeWitt says. "I thought Hooters had taken the low-brow route, and we're taking the high road. We have higher-quality food, and the uniforms on our girls are more finished. Hooters is more blue collar. We do well where Hooters isn't accepted."

    DeWitt's experiment worked, and he soon began converting more of his seafood restaurants into mountain lodges. Now Twin Peaks has 14 locations, with two under construction and five more in development.

    What makes the restaurant stand out, besides the waitresses, DeWitt says, is its commitment to quality. All mugs are frozen, and a special draught system ensures that every beer pours at 29 degrees. They have a full line of top-shelf whiskey, and their skilled bartenders know their booze. The food is all fresh--even fryer items like mozzarella sticks, which are hand-cut, breaded and cooked to order.

    But as restaurant consultant Tristano indicates, the true differentiating factor of the modern "breastaurant" is service. Most customers aren't satisfied with brusque service--they want a conscientious server and a meaningful connection.

    "Everybody else is rushing toward technology with kiosks that you order off of and servers who slip food to you around the corner. We're going the other way," Lynch says. "One of our mantras during training is that we want to make a connection with our guests. We practice 'touchology,' which means touch the table often, and make guests feel at home. Sometimes waitresses are providing the best part of a guest's day."

    Twin Peaks' DeWitt agrees that fostering connections is the key to a restaurant's success, especially when it breeds repeat customers. In fact, some waitresses become mini-entrepreneurs on their own, using Facebook or Twitter to let regulars know what shifts they'll be working or what specials the restaurant is offering.

    "When we see regulars walk in the door for lunch, the hostesses and waitstaff greet the guy by name," DeWitt says. Regular customers often ask for certain employees to wait on them, he says, and waitresses are instructed in how to connect with guests.

    "We have a certain language and we train that among our waitstaff," DeWitt says. "If you ask for a beer, the waitress will ask 'Do you want the man size or the girl size?'"

    Tristano confirms that the servers drive the concepts. "The increased service is absolutely the core, not the food," he says. "I suspect a lot of this segment's success has to do with server training and hiring the right people."

    Though this segment of the market is definitely heating up, none of the concepts thinks they are in danger of saturation, especially since their numbers are fairly small and they're not targeting the same geographical areas. Instead, they worry about competition from sports-oriented concepts like Buffalo Wild Wings. In fact, DeWitt says today's market is similar to the one from which Hooters emerged in 1983.

    "It seems like Hooters had the whole segment to itself back then, but if you do the research, they had a raft of competitors that popped up--often with really crass names like Mugs 'N Jugs--before Hooters emerged as a clear national leader," he says.

    DeWitt is wagering that most of his competitors in the male-bastion market will try to grow too fast and flame out at the regional level.

    "Every concept wants to grow and be nationwide, but you have to lay in the infrastructure for growth before going into build-out," he says. "You have to bring in highly talented operators that can manage rapid growth. We're not trying to grow faster than we're capable."

    The concept is still evolving. Brick House Tavern + Tap--owned by Ignite Restaurant Group, the company behind Joe's Crab Shack--touts itself as the ultimate man cave, with more than 70 beers, alcoves filled with theater-style seats outfitted with trays where customers can watch the game with friends, and special 100-ounce beer bongs with their own taps. So far, the concept has opened in seven states.

    As innovative as they might be, can these concepts survive if they cater only to half the population (and the one that doesn't always choose where to dine)?

    "I think these concepts have to target women to be successful," Tristano says. "One third of their customer base is female, and they have to make an effort to make women feel comfortable."

    Lynch thinks Tilted Kilt, at least, is succeeding with the female demographic. "I characterize ourselves as very PG-13," he says. "When a guy empties his pockets on the dresser and his wife sees a Tilted Kilt receipt, it's going to be fine. I was surprised when franchisees started asking for high chairs. We are no threat to women, and we train our servers to make a connection with women at the table first."

    Although the women may be on board, there's no question that these concepts cater first and foremost to manly appetites.

    "Why do regular customers come in three times or more a month?" DeWitt asks. "What more could a guy ask for: great food, sports, beer and a cute girl to look at. We don't go real deep."
    See you at Twin Peaks TX.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  14. #59
    This thread needs to be made a Sticky...

    I love me some titties!!

  15. #60
    Quote Originally Posted by sanjuro_ronin View Post
    Vietnamese coffee house
    coffee beauty indeed

    ka fe mei ren

    chinese called beautiful girl mei ren

    most famous in history, chang er, xi shi, diao chan, yang gui fei

    most used are xi shi or gui fei

    such as coffee xi shi or coffee gui fei

    etc etc

    bin lang xi shi

    girls that dress thinly and sell bin lang

    --


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